Amended Companies Act to ease cost of doing business

SUBANG JAYA: The Ministry of Domestic Trade, Cooperatives and Consumerism hopes that the amended Companies Act 2016 passed by Parliament in April last year, will ease the cost of doing business in the country, particularly small and medium enterprises (SMEs).

Its Minister, Datuk Seri Hamzah Zainudin, said the Act, implemented on a staggered basis since January this year, would among others, allowed dormant companies to be exempted from submitting annual reports.

“Companies whose threshold incomes are less than RM100,000 in the next three years, will also be exempted from submitting the annual reports as we (government) understand there may be a few companies set up by an entity but not all will succeed,” he said.

Hamzah said this at the launch of the Platinum Business Awards 2017 here today.

He said with the easing of regulation, the companies could save some of their auditing costs in their business operations.

Hamzah also encouraged SMEs to take advantage of the recently-launched Digital Free Trade Zone (DTFZ), a collaboration between Alibaba Group and Malaysia Digital Economy Corp, as it would allow them to gain access to global markets by lowering trade barriers.

“Malaysian SME exporters may want to use DTFZ to further promote their products and services to the Chinese market, for example, durian and other local fruits which are among their favourites,” he said.

On fixing fuel prices, Hamzah said, although it was done according to global market price movements, it was up to the oil producer companies and individual petrol station operators if they wanted to set their fuel prices below the ceiling price.

“However, any decision on prices and other promotions cannot be done without the approval from the ministry,” said Hamzah.

On the sales of fake stevia products, Hamzah said, his ministry and the Ministry of Health were collaborating in the investigation to ensure that the entrepreneurs would be more responsible and ethical.

The Platinum Business Awards 2017, themed ‘Sustainability through Technology and Innovation’, features 21 award categories including a new category, the Internet of Things Excellence Award.

SME Association of Malaysia, Datuk Michael Kang Hua Keong, said all SMEs and other qualified entities were encouraged to participate in the awards through online application at www.pbasme.com.my by July 15.

Meanwhile, organising chairman of the award, Datuk Seri Dr Ricky Yaw, said auditing for the award nomination would begin in August.

“The winners will be notified in September followed by the awards ceremony in October this year,” said Yaw. — Bernama